


Be alright

by TheOrangeAurora



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alcohol, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Internalised Homophobia, M/M, Slow Burn, break-up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 13:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20390665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOrangeAurora/pseuds/TheOrangeAurora
Summary: He never loved her anyway, so why was he so torn up about the break-up? And then there was this man who offered a listening ear and a free drink...





	Be alright

**Author's Note:**

> It's been over a year since my last work, but look who's back! 
> 
> This work started as a small fun thing that I used to get snippets of inspiration out. As I kept working on it, however, I realised that this was something that I wanted to do justice to. This story is a mixture of random inspiration and personal experiences, and I will update it slowly since I don't have that much free time these days. On top of that, I realised that the reason why I stopped posting was also because I pushed myself too hard with my last fic and I am learning from my mistakes to bring you a well-loved story this time around.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I know you love her,” A voice that he barely paid any attention to said, ''But it's over, mate.'' There was a pat on his shoulder, bringing Dan back to reality and he brought his head up but his eyes were still staring at the depths of the drink that he was nursing. He nodded half-heartedly before swinging it back. The alcohol stung his throat and he could feel it soon settle in the pit of his stomach with a warmth that only strong liquor could bring. 

“Yeah, I know,” He finally looked up properly, his brown eyes searching for his friend's greens only to find the other man eyeing a girl across the room who looked away shyly before whispering to her friends. 

Any other time Dan would have hackled his friend, say - wasn't he there to console Dan? After all, it was him who was just broken up barely days ago. Instead, he motioned towards the girl, and laughed under his breath, ''Go get her, tiger.''

“Nah mate, I'm here for you,” Mike turned back to the counter, although his eyes lingered on the girl. 

“I'll be fine,” Dan retorted though his voice didn't seem as convincing as he wanted it to be. “I'm serious. Go chat her up. I'll be right here,” He motioned towards the bar in front of himself that he had been sitting at for the past hour, an hour that made his ass hurt on the wooden stool, but he was getting a bit buzzed after a couple of drinks, so he couldn't really care less for it. 

“If you're sure...” Mike seemed reluctant still, so Dan laughed again and nodded, ''You're shit at giving me advice anyways.''

Mike grinned at that, punching Dan's shoulder lightly, ''Asshole.''

“Right back at you, mate,” The insult was easily returned and Dan ushered his friend away. He briefly followed with his eyes as Mike approached the table and as soon as he waved at the girls, Dan turned back towards the bartender, ''Another one, on the rocks.” 

“Put it on my tab,” A voice that Dan didn't recognise suddenly appeared as suddenly as the stranger who took Mike's seat. “And another one for me,” The strange man pushed what looked like a cocktail glass towards the bartender before turning to Dan. “I couldn't help but overhear,” The man smiled sheepishly and Dan tried to return the smile though he felt his face turn red; he didn't exactly enjoy being overheard over his sorrows, “Sorry about the breakup, but hey, you'll find your soulmate one day and it'll be alright, all the heartache will be worth it.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Dan mumbled and his fingers wrapped around the scotch glass, awkwardly pulling it closer to himself. 

It was silent for a moment, until the other man's drink arrived, bright orange and red with a slice of orange sticking from the glass. “Cheers,” The stranger brought the drink up, smiling at Dan so brightly that his eyes formed crinkles and Dan could only wonder how long did this man spend smiling every day. 

“Cheers,” He offered a small smile to the kind stranger, clinking his glass of dark amber against the sunrise in the stranger's glass. 

As they sipped, the chatter of the bar surrounded them, the volume of it growing in Dan's ears until it was almost too much. 

“I'm Phil, by the way,” The stranger who now had a name regarded Dan with another smile and there was something so open and friendly that without long hesitation, Dan found his lips forming the words in return, “I'm Dan, and I'm about to become an alcoholic.”

Catching the joking edge in the deadpan reply, Phil laughed, sticking his tongue out a little in the process before taking another sip. “I'd recommend that maybe for one night only.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Dan sighed into his glass before another sip of the scotch found its way to his lips, and he swallowed the fire willingly, trying to ignore the nagging memory of how she used to laugh at his jokes. How they had met during the last year of University, at a party while Dan was having a breather on the balcony, tired out by the neverending beat of the music and people enjoying life before the real adult life kicked in and grounded them. She was the picture perfect, with her blonde hair and warm grey eyes, smooth face that carried the most genuine smiles. The way her voice rang, pouring unfamiliar warmth into Dan's chest as she laughed at his joke about contemplating jumping the balcony and running away from real life to live as a forever university student. And how that laughter had subsided until Dan couldn't even recall when he had last heard her laugh anymore. How that warmth had turned cold, looking past Dan as if she lived in another universe. Far away from Dan. 

How she began smoking, excusing it with the stress from her job, her kisses turning from sweet to ashen. 

“Hey, it'll be alright, Dan,” He was drawn back to reality by a touch to his arm, and he looked up meeting Phil's eyes that were surprisingly soft for their cool colour. He swallowed, his throat painful with the hurt in his heart trying to spill, and nodded. “Nothing heals the past like time,” Phil murmured and only then did Dan realise that the other man had leaned in close and was speaking quietly, his breath ghosting over Dan's face just barely. But before Dan could react or realise, Phil had leaned away, letting his hand pull away. Instead he latched onto the slim body of his cocktail's glass, his demeanour asking for another sip soon.

“You know what's the worst part?” Dan asked, nursing his own drink in his hands, once he had managed to tear his eyes away from this unusual stranger. Dan found himself at ease, almost trusting, but it might have been the alcohol. 

“Hm?” Phil hummed in question, his lips touching on the sunrise drink and rendering him speechless momentarily. 

“This is stupid,” Dan laughed weakly, staring at the thin coating of the alcohol against the clear glass as he swirled his drink around. It looked oily though nothing about the drink felt so. On the contrary, all the dirt he felt in his soul felt sterilised and cleared away with it. “I'm not even entirely sure if I loved her.” With that he took a swig, the burning in is throat familiar, the way it settled in the pit of his stomach had become a norm already, his mind felt lifted and his lips a bit looser than he could remember them ever being whilst sober. 

There was a moment of hesitation but it flew by Dan unnoticed, the tender buzz in his brain lifting his consciousness somewhere in near parallel with his existence on the bar stool. He didn't notice the way Phil opened his mouth as if to ask something only to press the glass against his mouth again, pouring a bit of slushy yellow and red down his throat. 

“How come?” Finally Phil questioned after perhaps too long. To Dan it only sounded like a strange man who hadn't expected a true heart to heart from a heartbroken bloke he'd bought a clearly-needed drink for. 

Instead of a reply however, Dan just shook his head, muttering something that even he didn't understand. Instead he finished his drink, letting the half-melted ice cube clank loudly against the edges before he set the glass down. “I need to take a leak,” He concluded unceremoniously and got up, trying his best not to show that he was getting quite tipsy and that apparently he had been sitting too long and all the blood rushed to his legs. His vision blurred and he grabbed onto the bar to hold himself upright as things got incredibly fuzzy for a moment before it began to clear again. Only when he came to it did he notice that he was supported by a pair of arms wrapped around him awkwardly and Phil's voice right by his ear mixing with that of Mike who had appeared next to the duo at some point unexpectedly. 

“Dan? Are you okay?”

“Mate, geez, how much did you drink, I was gone only for a moment--”

“He had only one more and suddenly...” 

Dan blinked hard and while regaining his full footing, accidentally leaned into Phil, who, he realised, was surprisingly as tall as Dan, which seemed to help with holding Dan upright. “I'm fine, I just got up too fast,” He tried to tell the two men off, only to feel Phil's grasp tightened around him momentarily before easing. 

“I think it's about time we got you home,” Mike, seemingly having forgotten all about his earlier endeavours, piqued in. Dan wanted to protest, say - he really wasn't that drunk and it really was just the damn blood flow that didn't seem to work well with his height, but the two men around him seemed to have made up their minds already.

“I know it's not my place, but… Let me know when you get him home?” Phil sounded genuinely concerned, quickly scribbling his number on a napkin and extending it towards Mike who nodded and quickly pocketed it. Despite Dan's protest, his shorter but noticeably stronger friend began to pull him away. 

Dan only managed to give a quick wave to Phil before he lost the sight of the man, who now looked completely lost at the bar.

=====

He hadn't drank that much, he was certain of it, but his head disagreed and his mouth felt like it hadn't known a single drop of water in years. Dan groaned, turning over, searching for his phone. Once he found it, he opened one eye, ready to squirm and shut it again when the phone light would go off, but it never did and instead a sad low battery symbol was all he was greeted with. 

He dropped his phone on the bed and stiffly pushed himself to get out of bed, all of his joints complaining as if they had gotten exercise instead of several doses of poison. 

His house looked empty. Granted, it was a small apartment while he was in between jobs and after breaking up, but there were still boxes littering the floor that he hadn’t bothered to unpack, and his fridge only had some premade meals in it because most of his kitchenware had been hers and he hadn’t gotten around to replacing the missing pieces yet. Nevertheless, it was his. Alone.

It took two painkillers and about a glass and a half before Dan found himself lounging on the living room sofa, one leg down on the floor with the other swung over the armrest, eyes closed as he tried to will the pain and spinning in his head away. 

With his eyes closed, however, his thoughts played scenarios in his mind’s eye. At one point it was her again, the way she had hesitated when Dan had questioned about the cigarettes; as much as e hated them, he’d grown familiar with her purchases. Yet, that time was different, and as she set them on the kitchen counter, she didn’t even try to excuse herself with lies, as if this was all an elaborate setup for what she wanted to tell him.

Of course there was somebody else.

It was with a stir that Dan awoke next, blinking bleary at the world that finally was only a sleepy haze. His spine was stiff from the awkward position he’d dozed off in, and he could hear the series of pops when he stretched, only to hear the deep rumble in his stomach joining them soon after. 

‘’Ugh,’’ His mouth felt gross, so he plugged his phone to charge and scoured the bathroom for some toothbrush and paste. Still brushing, he returned to his phone, turning it on to order some delivery food. Instead, as soon as the screen woke up, he was greeted with various notification buzzes and popups. Usually he would have ignored them if not for texts from an unknown number.

_ ‘Hey, Mike gave me your number after he dropped you off’ _

_ ‘I mean, I assume it was after that, since he texted me that you had made home safely’  _

_ ‘Anyways, just wanted to check in with you that you’re doing fine’ _

_ ‘Oh, this is Phil btw’ _

_ ‘I think I have sent you too many messages already, sorry about that. No pressure to reply, I just didn’t get to say bye properly last night’ _

Dan stared at the messages and the picture of the stranger turned an odd acquaintance came back to him. Phil has been welcoming, not overly pushy, had felt trustworthy though Dan knew part of it was due to the alcohol in his system most likely. He had seemed like an alright bloke, full of smiles, even when he wasn’t smiling, and a good banter but also letting Dan to speak.

‘’Swhwith--’’ He jumped when he felt a bit of water and toothpaste dribble down his chin and quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand. A quick rinse in the bathroom and he was back at his phone, thumbs hovering above the reply text field, thinking before he began typing, trying hard not to drop his phone on his face in the process.

_ ‘hey phil, this is dan. but you already knew that… anyways, thanks for yesterday, i needed an ear to vent to, clearly.’  _

_ ‘and yeah i’m good, or as good as someone who drank a bit too much could feel. hope your night was as exciting as me nearly passing out.’  _

He paused for a moment, though they had been pretty good at understanding what was a joke in person, something bugged him about the blankness of the message.

_ ‘that was a joke…. partially’ _

He barely locked his screen when his phone came back to life with another text.

_ ‘Thanks for the clarification, I would have never known.’ _

Dan smiled, clearly catching the sarcastic vibe.

_ ‘But hey, assuming that you don’t live 5h away from London, do you wanna meet for a coffee? I think both of us could use some right now.’ _

Dan pursed his lips in thought for a moment; he barely knew the guy, had spilled his sob story to him within an hour of meeting him, and yet the guy was still interested in talking to him.

It had taken barely a week after the breakup that Dan realised just how closely their lives had been tied together. Friends dropped off like flies, either ghosting him, or outright being cold. He hadn’t even realised that up until that point that after graduation all of his friends had been hers, befriending him by proxy. And just like that, with her gone, so were the others, and Dan was left with a work buddy turned friend, one to go to pubs with and drink sorrows away while Mike could find himself a new bird of his own. 

_‘sure’_ He typed out and thought for a moment before adding _‘but you are paying, since i now have to leave the house’_ Somehow he felt like he could be cheeky with this man.

_ ‘I never intended it to be anything else.’  _


End file.
